Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

Marillier notes that, besides Dr. Johnson at the Mitre, this is DGR's “one experiment in eighteenth-century
costume”. DGR himself described the picture in detail in a letter
to an unknown correspondent (quoted by Marillier): “The drawing.
. .represents the last stage of an unlucky love affair. The lady has gone
behind the screen (in the dining-room perhaps) to wash her hands; and the
gentleman, her lover, has followed her there, and has still something to
say, but she has made up her mind. We may suppose that others are present,
and that this is his only chance of speaking. I mean it to represent that
state of a courtship when both of the parties have come to see in reality
that it will never do, but when the lady, I think, is generally the first to
have the strength to act on such knowledge. It is all over, in my picture,
and she is washing her hands of it”
(
Marillier, DGR: An Illustrated Memorial, 139).

Production History

On 28 June 1865 DGR told Madox Brown that he had “just
begun” this picture (
Fredeman, Correspondence, 65.101
). Frederick Craven bought the
picture and completed payment on 16 August, though whether the picture was
ready at that point is not certain. DGR was still working on it in early
August.

Pictorial

DGR called this work “a companion to ” Aurora. The latter was begun and completed before this picture
(
Fredeman, Correspondence, 65.101
).